Gérard Depardieu was taken into police custody this Monday morning in Paris. He faces accusations of sexual assault that allegedly occurred in 2014 and 2021 on film sets.
14:06 – Numerous accusations against Gérard Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu has been the subject of accusations of sexual assault or harassment for several years, even if they have not necessarily given rise to complaints before the courts. On April 11, 2023, Médiapart published a long article in which 13 women denounced sexual violence allegedly committed by the French actor. Among them, we find the actress Sarah Brooks, who had worked with Depardieu on the filming of the series Marseille. She accuses him of putting his hand down her panties. In July 2023, three other testimonies were reported by France Inter.
13:31 – When Anouk Grinberg recounted the filming of Volets vertes
Gérard Depardieu is summoned this Monday following the complaint of a decorator who denounces a sexual assault on the set of the film Green Shutters, in 2021. Actress Anouk Grinberg, who has since publicly denounced the actor’s behavior on film sets, also played in Jean Becker’s film. “What people saw in Further investigationit’s pretty much soft compared to what I saw on the Green shuttersand I am not the only one”, she assured AFP in March 2024 in comments reported in particular in Nice morning. “From morning to evening, we were entitled to his salaceries.” She also assures that the referent hired to prevent attacks on film sets “never intervened when we heard about pussy, pussy, cock, getting sucked”: “When film producers hire Depardieu on a film , they know they are hiring an attacker.”
12:47 – Where is the Charlotte Arnould affair?
If Gérard Depardieu is heard this Monday morning to respond to accusations of sexual assault made by two women who worked with him, he is also still indicted in the Charlotte Arnould affair. This daughter of a friend of the actor, also an actress, has accused him since 2018 of having raped her twice at his Parisian home. While the actor had appealed the court decision, the prosecution confirmed his indictment on March 10, 2022. The complainant deplored in May 2023 the psychological consequences of the violence she suffered and testimony in the show Further investigation broadcast in December 2023.
11:56 – What is the police custody regime?
Gérard Depardieu was placed in police custody this Monday, April 29 at 8 a.m. in order to respond to complaints of sexual assault filed by two women with whom he worked during filming, in 2014 and 2021. This regime aims to deprive the freedom of a suspect in the context of investigations, generally for questioning. Police custody can last 24 hours and be extended, and can last up to 72 hours in the event of a serious offense. At the end of police custody, the public prosecutor or the investigating judge decides whether to release the suspect or present him before the court, in order to decide on the legal action to be taken in the case.
11:42 – Gérard Depardieu placed in police custody
According to information from BFM TV, Gérard Depardieu was placed in police custody this Monday morning from 8 a.m., in a Parisian police station. The actor must answer to accusations of sexual assault brought by two women who accuse him of touching, one in 2014, the other in 2021. In total, police custody is set for 24 hours, but can last up to 72 hours in the event of a serious violation.
11:32 – A complaint against Gérard Depardieu dismissed
If Gérard Depardieu has been indicted since 2020 in the Charlotte Arnould affair and is heard this Monday morning in the context of two complaints for sexual assault, the 75-year-old actor was already implicated in other cases. On September 10, 2023, actress Hélène Darras filed a complaint against Gérard Depardieu, accusing him of sexual assault on the set of the film Discoin 2007. The complaint was nevertheless dismissed for prescription a few months later, in December 2023. The actress, however, did not say she was surprised by this conclusion to AFP: “If I filed a complaint , it’s because I could no longer remain silent from now on, if my testimony allows justice to move forward on non-time-barred complaints, or if it can free the speech of other victims, or even relaunch the debate on the. prescription, all this will not have been in vain.”
11:18 – Gérard Depardieu denies all accusations
Since Charlotte Arnould’s complaint in 2018, Gérard Depardieu has always denied the accusations against him. First through his lawyer, then himself publicly on October 1, 2023, in a column published in Le Figaro: “I am neither a rapist nor a predator,” he wrote, adding that “never never again [il n’a] abused a woman.
10:37 – Gérard Depardieu already indicted in another case
These two accusations were made public in the weeks following the broadcast of a damning documentary on the behavior of the film star by the program Complément d’investigations, in December 2023. Since 2020, Gérard Depardieu was indicted for rape and sexual assault after the complaint from Charlotte Arnould, who accused him of two rapes in 2018. Other women have also filed complaints against the French actor in recent years, like the actress Hélène Darras whose complaint was filed for statute of limitations in December 2023. Journalist and writer Ruth Baza also said she was raped by the actor in 1995.
10:13 – A 24-year-old assistant denounces touching
Gérard Depardieu will have to answer other questions this Monday on the complaint for sexual assault on a vulnerable person by someone abusing the authority of their position as a filming assistant. She denounces touching which allegedly occurred in May 2014, when she was 24 years old, on the set of the film The Magician and the Siamese by Jean-Pierre Mocky. As she details to Courrier de L’Ouest, the actor welcomed the team to his home to prepare for filming. She said he allegedly touched her buttocks and made obscene comments at that time. A few days later, on set, the assistant said she was once again the victim of touching, this time on her private parts. She accuses the actor of having also made sexual propositions to her.
09:50 – The story of the first complainant
Gérard Depardieu must notably answer for the accusation of sexual assault made by a 53-year-old film set designer in 2021, on the set of the film The green shutters by Jean Becker. She would have told the authorities that Gérard Depardieu, sitting in a corridor, grabbed her with his legs to block her between his thighs, before touching her breasts and buttocks. The intervention of a third party would have allowed her to escape, but the actor would subsequently have regularly called her a “slut” during the rest of the filming.
09:30 – Gérard Depardieu summoned by the police
Gérard Depardieu was summoned this Monday, April 29 in the morning to be interviewed by the police. The 75-year-old actor, who has always maintained his innocence for each of his accusations, went to the Paris police station to answer two accusations of sexual assault. Two complaints were filed for acts that allegedly occurred on film sets: one in 2014 on the set of the film The Magician and the Siamese by Jean-Pierre Mocky, the other in 2021 on the set of the feature film Green Shutters by Jean Becker.